7. Hide and Seek

"10... 9... 8... 765... 4321!" Greta pulled her hands away from her eyes and looked around the room eagerly. "Now where could they be?" she mused, ducking down to peer under the bed. "Papa Wolfram might be hard to find, but Yuuri isn't very creative, so..."

She looked in their wardrobe, behind the curtains, under the table, and behind the door - but neither of her royal caretakers appeared. Having exhausted the options in their room, she made her way out into the corridor with a resolute expression on her face. There were a lot of places to hide in Blood Pledge Castle, and naturally Greta knew most of them. Of course, she couldn't check them all herself very quickly, so she tromped straight to the servant's quarters and enlisted the help of three idle maids.

Together, they investigated secret corridors, hidden rooms, cabinets, secluded entryways - and still no sign of Wolfram or Yuuri. Greta was getting frustrated, which was not a very good thing for Greta to be. It just inspired her to be resourceful. She was sitting on the ground, her brow furrowed thoughtfully, when the solution came to her. Wondering why she hadn't thought of it sooner, she grinned wickedly and set off in search of Anissina.


"We're almost there!" the inventor shouted as they tore down the castle corridor. She was on roller skates, holding for dear life onto a contraption that looked vaguely like a water diviner with a satellite dish. Greta rode on her shoulders, shrieking and laughing with glee.

"Whee!" she cried out, and threw her arms in the air, much to the chagrin of the three maids who were running alongside them and trying to make very sure the young princess didn't die in an untimely and spectacular manner. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Anissina's device bleeped softly and let up its pull, bringing them all to a slow stop outside of a dingy-looking broom closet.

"Victory!" Anissina chirped, letting Greta down off of her shoulders. "Missing king located!"

The little girl giggled madly and reached for the door handle, tearing it open with a yank. "I found -" she trailed off, her jaw dropping to the floor.

Inside, Yuuri was backed up against the wall, one leg tangled around Wolfram's and his shirt pushed up to bunch around his shoulders. One of Wolfram's arms was around the boy's exposed waist, holding him up and also (apparently) strategically working its way into Yuuri's pants. The young king's hands were busy at work on Wolfram's jacket, which he had most of the way undone, and several suspicious marks were visible on the blonde's neck. They jerked their heads up in alarm, blinked in the sudden light, and as if on cue, blushed violently and tore away from each other as though they were vile anathema. Yuuri yanked his shirt down and laughed nervously.

All three maids sighed happily in unison.

"G-Greta!" Wolfram stuttered, kneeling to look the little girl in the eyes. "Looks like you found us! You won!"

"Daddies?" the little girl said curiously. "Why did you hide in the same place?"

"Ah," said Yuuri. "Um... because it wouldn't be fair if we hid separately! That's two against one, right?" He looked to Wolfram desperately.

"Right, right!" the young noble nodded enthusiastically. "We just wanted it to be fair, princess." He leaned forward to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Then... why were you undressing?" she asked, her eyes wide and innocent.

"Um... because it was hot in there?" Yuuri answered tentatively.

"I'll say," Anissina muttered under her breath. Wolfram shot her a look.

Greta looked a bit disappointed. "Oh... well, I'm sad that it's over. No making it easy for me next time, okay?"

"O-Of course, Greta," Wolfram responded with a nervous smile. "Promise."

She smiled back. "Well, thanks for playing with me, Daddies! I'm going to go see if Uncle Gwendel got me the yarn I asked him for. See you later!" She waved and trotted back into the castle, humming under her breath.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Wolfram and Yuuri both let out a deep breath and slumped to the floor. "Anissina..." Yuuri murmured, his shoulders slouched. "She wasn't supposed to find us that fast..."

"You should think twice before underestimating a woman!" she scolded, causing the maids to titter in agreement. She hefted the divining device and looked at it proudly. "But thank you both for proving that my invention works perfectly!"

Wolfram looked up and eyed the strange contraption. "What do you call it?"

"Anissina's Magic Get-Yuuri-Out-Of-The-Closet Machine!" she announced. She looked from boy to boy expectantly as their faces transformed into masks of utter chagrin. "What?" she finally said. "I knew it would come in handy someday, didn't I?"